No fewer than 55 chairmanship candidates and 363 councilorship candidates are contesting today as 1.4 million registered voters in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) elect new council executives.
The FCT election which is conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will be held in all polling units throughout the six Area Councils to fill empty seats in 68 constituencies, including six chairmanships and 62 councilorships.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, the Executive Director, Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), Ms. Faith Nwadishi, said INEC has declared that 14 political parties would be fielding candidates for the slots.
She said as part of CTA’s pre-election observation, there is better coordination amongst the security personnel and the police as lead of the security team has assured of adequate security and coordination across the polling units.
Nwadishi commended the election management body for its preparedness and readiness to conduct the election, saying the distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive materials have been smooth as observed at the FCT INEC office
The Executive Director reminded INEC that the FCT election should be taken seriously just like any other election because its failure or success counts towards its credibility.
She stated: “The FCT elections will hold in polling units throughout the six Area Councils to fill empty seats in 68 constituencies, including six chairmanships and 62 councillorships.
“In the FCT’s 68 constituencies, 55 candidates are vying for the role of Chairman, while 363 candidates are vying for the position of Councillors. The number of registered voters in the FCT are 1,373,492 while the number of polling units are 2,822, including the newly created 2,260.
“However, INEC has stated that no materials or officials would be deployed to 593 of the newly established polling units because no voters have yet been registered in those areas.”
Nwadishi said the Centre is accredited to observe the election and has mobilised and deployed 150 observers to various polling units across the six Area Councils in the FCT.
She urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law in order to remove most encumbrances towards the 2023 general election.
